


Stories from a different time

by Subaruchan192



Series: After the fire- Post war Eruri [5]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Erwin Smith Lives, Erwin tells Levi a story, Established Levi/Erwin Smith, Established Relationship, Forehead Kisses, Forehead Touching, Happy, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, M/M, Melancholy, Mentioned Hange Zoë, Mythology References, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-War, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Sexual Content, Soft Erwin Smith, Soft Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Story within a Story, Teasing, Titans, Titans are extinguished, story telling, uncensored Greek mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:15:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29248629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Subaruchan192/pseuds/Subaruchan192
Summary: “What are you reading?” The pale glow of the fire danced across Levi's face as he turned around.“Hmmm?” Erwin lifted his gaze from the page and deep blue eyes looked at him.“The book.” Levi pointed at it, before he turned back to the fire to fry the fish they had caught together today. “It looks old.”“Yes, it is,” Erwin said as he closed it with a smile. Almost reverently, his long fingers stroked the dark, leather-bound cover, running along the edges and scrapings, traces of the hands through which this book had wandered over time. “It was my father's and the only one I was able to keep over all those years.”“What is it about?” Levi asked as he sat down on the porch. Erwin lifted his gaze and his smile became a little warmer again.“Myths out of a time before the Titans. That’s at least what he told me."or: On a warm, quiet evening, Erwin reads one of his father's old books on the terrace of their house, while Levi prepares dinner. Curious, Levi ask Erwin to read one to him and so Erwin tells him a legend from a time long ago, a story about how the world has been created and how the king of the gods has defeated the Titans.
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Series: After the fire- Post war Eruri [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086356
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	Stories from a different time

**Author's Note:**

> So, I had the idea of Erwin reading a story to Levi for a while. Originally, I wanted to tell the story of the Leviathans, but even after some research, there wasn't a lot of original content to work with, so I decided to go with the origin of probably most known god =) With all the flaws Zeus has, the story is quite entertaining and I had a lot of fun writing it down in that "narrator" style.
> 
> I hope you enjoy =)

“What are you reading?” The pale glow of the fire danced across Levi's face as he turned around.

“Hmmm?” Erwin lifted his gaze from the page and deep blue eyes looked at him.

“The book.” Levi pointed at it, before he turned back to the fire to fry the fish they had caught together today. “It looks old.”

It was not the first time that Levi saw it. This book meant much to Erwin. He had often seen how he had taken it out of a safe place, whenever he felt unobserved. Levi had always wondered what was up with that, but it was obvious that Erwin didn't want to talk about it and he didn't want to push him.

“Yes, it is,” Erwin said as he closed it with a smile. Almost reverently, his long fingers stroked the dark, leather-bound cover, running along the edges and scrapings, traces of the hands through which this book had wandered over time. “It was my father's and the only one I was able to keep over all those years.”

At the sound of the tenderness in Erwin’s deep voice, Levi turned around. Something rested in these deep blue eyes. A shimmer of melancholy as he stroked over the golden letters of the title.

The smile his lips carried was soft, but it didn’t reach his eyes, the pain of longing and missing mirroring on the surface of his ocean. Erwin still felt guilty for his father's death. Curiosity was something children were admired for, but his own had ended the life of the only person he had had and the innocence of a child had turned into a sin and it pained Levi to see it.

“What is it about?” he asked as he sat down on the porch. Erwin lifted his gaze and his smile became a little warmer again.

“Myths out of a time before the Titans. That’s at least what he told me,” he said with a voice full of awe. Levi arched an eyebrow, but as he opened his mouth to say something, Erwin chuckled and added: “Not that I believe that, but I like the thought.”

Levi nodded. Lifting the veil of the past had always been Erwin's goal. So, it was not surprising that he treasured this book like a precious treasure, because it allowed him a glimpse behind the veil of the past. Even if it was probably nothing more than an illusion.

Levi, on the other hand, didn’t quite understand it. What difference did it make to know what was long destroyed and hadn’t been able to survive the test of time?

But Erwin’s eyes shone full of tenderness as he looked at it and Levi began to understand. It wasn’t exactly about the past- at least not the one of humanities. It was about Erwin’s past and that the book was the only remnants of memory he had.

Sometimes, Levi wondered what it would have been like. To have a family. To experience what the other members of the Survey Corps had told each other around the fire. What was it like when parents told you a bedtime story? What was it like to be cared for and protected? Not to have to fight for survival in every second of your life? To close your eyes and dream?

Dreaming…it was something so abstract for Levi. He did dream, but they were rather a whirlwind of colours, screams and haunting pictures. He would prefer not to have them, but to actually dream seemed to be something wonderful. Either if it was during your sleep, but also in your life. Levi never had the luxury of that.

But maybe…

“Could you…” Levi’s voice trailed off and he quickly casted his eyes down so that hopefully Erwin wouldn’t see how embarrassed and nervous he was. “Could you tell me one?”

There was silence for a moment in which they only heard the distant snorting of their horses and the quiet hooting of an owl in the forest. Levi’s heart was beating against his chest as he waited for Erwin’s reaction, feeling so vulnerable.

“Of course.” When Levi looked back up, Erwin was smiling softly, his deep blue eyes looking at him with a loving gaze. “Come here.”

He opened the green blanket, which rested over his lap as the night was growing cold during those autumn nights and the fire was too far away to protect him.

Levi hesitated to accept the offer, as tempting as it was. He looked to the fish, then back to Erwin, and back to the fish again, before he sighed in defeat, stood up and settled on his lap.

The bright smile that enlightened Erwin’s face was almost worth the humiliation of humanity's strongest sitting like a child on his lap. Though, he had to admit, that Erwin’s lap was very comfortable and, which was even harder, that he liked sitting on it.

With a deep sigh he let out the exhaustion of a day full of fishing, haunting and chopping woods and he tucked himself into the crook of Erwin’s neck.

Erwin looked softly down to him and placed a gentle kiss into his black hair, before he wrapped the blanket around him and immediately, the former soldier felt wrapped in a cocoon of warmth.

“Which one would you like to hear?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he mumbled against Erwin’s neck, his voice already a little slurred as the exhaustion crept on him now that he was finally able to relax. “Just want to listen to your voice.”

“Alright.” Erwin smiled and rested the book on Levi’s lap. While flipping through the book to choose one of the legends, he rested his head on Levi's shoulder and settled further into the rocking chair.

Silvery moonlight made his blond hair shine almost white, while the flickering lantern on the wooden table next to them conjured a play of shadows on the porch.

Levi, on the other, snuggled closer to him and looked for a more comfortable position. He closed his eyes, letting the steady heartbeat soothe him, assure him that this wasn’t a dream. That he hadn’t got lost in his own wish.

He almost felt Erwin’s smile against his hair, but he didn’t care. Even though being vulnerable still was difficult for him at times, he enjoyed it to be held.

A soft kiss was placed against his temple, before Erwin cleared his throat and began with a deep, melodic voice:

“This story is from a time long lost, being told before the Titans roamed over the earth. It’s about the king of gods, a being born out of the chaos.”

“It doesn't say that,” Levi grumbled.

“Who's telling the story here? You or me?” Erwin asked with a soft chuckle.

“You.”

“So, let me worry about that.” There was a smirk in his voice. “Besides, I thought it doesn’t matter what I tell you. I might as well tell you about Hanji's experiments.”

“No! No, it's all right. Go on.”

“How generous.” Erwin laughed softly and Levi snuggled back against his firm chest. “He is the father of gods and mankind, to whom all are subject, whether mortal or not. He is the Lord of the elements. He determines the weather: sometimes he sends a storm, sometimes pleasant rain. He is the guarantor of absolute power and social hierarchy. Above all, he has the only weapon of mass destruction of his time: lightning. Without hesitation, he hurls it at anyone who challenges him.

His name is Zeus.

He is majestic in appearance, with a thick beard and full hair, holding in sceptre of cypress wood in one hand, the symbol of his reign, and in the other the bundle of lightning with which he unleashes the thunderstorms.”

“Great, another king.”

“Levi,” Erwin reproached him with a chuckle in his voice. “Shall I stop?”

Levi winced.

“No, no! I’m already quiet.”

“I'm beginning to doubt that,” Erwin replied with a smirk and kissed his hair before clearing his throat and starting again, “Zeus inhabits the glorious, tranquil region in the Earth's uppermost atmosphere. The mountains are his throne. Most famous is his residence on Mount Olympus. There was his castle, built by his son Hephaestus, the god of fire and blacksmith.

However, Zeus has not always been this supreme god. At his birth, it looked like a very different fate.”

Erwin made a pause, waiting for another comment of Levi, but instead noticed how he was holding his breath, eagerly waiting for him to continue, curiosity glistening in the onyxes of his eyes. Erwin smiled as he turned the page and continued to read:

“It all begins in the darkest night, before the dawn of time, when darkness created chaos: desolate, unruly and empty. Then Gaia, the earth, the first deity of the world and the mother of all gods, was created.

Gaia then gives birth to the high mountains with the snow-capped peaks and the grottos, the dense forests, the foam-capped oceans, the plains and the rivers.

Later, as this world takes shape, Eros, the wind, the invisible one, appears, arousing in all beings the urgent desire to approach each other and mate.

Gaia, the Mother Earth, is alone. No one loves her and she loves no one. Who could love her if not herself?

Around her there is only chaos. To end the loneliness, Gaia finally creates Ouranos, the sky, her complete opposite with its myriad constellations.

And the sky has rested itself on Gaia, has enclosed her completely and so they are almost a couple - the sky and the earth, surrounded by the universe.

But the world was still barren and empty. The living space existed, but living beings did not yet exist. That's where Eros comes into play again. Without even noticing it, he breathes into Ouranos that same mysterious urge, the desire, and Ouranos succumbs to it. He immerses himself in Gaia and they make love. Not once, but a hundred times. Not for a day, but for a thousand days.”

“Really now?", Levi interrupted him annoyed and Erwin almost heard him roll his eyes. “I think it's supposed to be legend and not an erotic story.”

“Well, apparently all myths back then were erotically tinged.”

“And that's the kind of story your father read to you?”

“No, not this one in particular. I just happened to be reading it,” Erwin explained with an amused laugh. “He told me other myths of that time. Titans also appear in these, you know, although they are quite different from the ones we know. I especially liked the story of Prometheus. He was considered the first ally of mankind and, ironically, he was one of those Titans. He tricked the gods so he could steal the fire from Olympus and give it to humanity so that they weren’t as much at the gods mercy as before. As a punishment, he was tied to a rock and an eagle ate his liver alive.”

“His liver was eaten...by an eagle,” Levi repeated slowly, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard and seriously doubted whether Erwin was out of his mind. “Now you’re just messing with me.”

"No, seriously. As you know, the liver is not a vital organ and so Prometheus bled to death in agony, but just before he died the liver grew back only to be eaten again…,” Erwin explained and Levi just stared blankly at him for a long time.

“And suddenly it sounds almost credible that the wind seduces the earth and the sky.” Levi sighed and rubbed his eyebrows. “But I have to admit the gods were as creative and abstruse in their punishments as the Generalissimo.”

Erwin laughed out loud about that and he hid his chuckles in Levi’s hair and Levi couldn’t help but to smile about it.

“I think we uncovered his inspiration,” Erwin still chortled as he pulled away and had to wipe the tears out of his eyes.

“What other story did you like?" Levi asked curiously, because it felt like he was just getting to know a completely new side of Erwin that he hadn't known before.

Erwin thought about the answer for a moment.

“I also liked the story of Odysseus, a hero who won a seemingly endless war by trickery and then strayed across the sea for ten years because he turned his back on the gods and so had to be punished. Among other things, he had to escape a Cyclops, a giant with only one eye, who threatened to eat them all, and outwit the most powerful sorceress, who had turned his crew into pigs, and face giant sea monsters...and yet, despite all the obstacles, he returned home to his beloved wife and son after more than 20 years.” Erwin's eyes shone brighter than the ocean as he told Levi about it, who smiled softly. For a brief moment, it seemed as if he was able to see a young Erwin sitting on the bed, spellbound and eagerly listening to his father's words.

It must have been a strange, inappropriate image for all those who had only ever known the commander in Erwin with his firm determination, but Levi had always seen the real man behind the mask and for him it explained so much about Erwin's nature.

“Well, at least I know where your shrewdness and your fighting spirit come from,” he said and kissed Erwin’s chin.

For a moment Erwin blinked in wonder, but then he smiled.

“Yes, probably.” Almost tenderly, he stroked his long fingers over the page and a flicker of melancholy that Levi didn’t like scurried over his eyes.

“So how was life created?” he therefore asked to distract him and rested his hand on his chest. Erwin blinked and smiled, almost embarrassed, before refocusing on the story.

“Soon a bevy of children will come into the world and aah, here they come. The Titans. Six female and six males. Then come the Cyclopes with only one eye in the middle of the forehead and the Hecatonchires, so called because they have a hundred arms, but not only that. They also have fifty heads from which they spit fire.

Last, Gaia gives birth to the giants, beings of immense size.

All her children have only one thing in common: they cannot move. Trapped in the womb of their mother, they remain where they were conceived, because the sky, Ouranos, literally sticks to the earth.

Between the two is not the slightest space through which the offspring could reach the light to live independently. As soon as they try to free themselves, their father pushes them back mercilessly.

With their concentrated frustration, the Titans lash out at their mother. They pounce on her, grab her and put her under pressure. Gaia suffers. She is exhausted and enraged at the same time. It cannot go on like this. Gaia calls for a revolt. Her children should fight against their father. No one moves. None except the youngest, Cronus. Together with his mother, the Titan wants to take on his father. Without Ouranos noticing, Gaia secretly makes a sickle out of flint and gives it to her son. He only has to wait for an opportunity and it comes quickly.

Ouranos, the insatiable one, is drawn to Gaia again. As he is about to penetrate her, Cronus grabs his father's sexual organ, cuts it off and throws it into the sea.”

Erwin sensed how Levi tensed slightly, taking in a deep breath of calmness so that he didn’t roll his eyes, but this time he said nothing and he smiled about it.

“Ouranos, mad with pain, abruptly let go of Gaia and retreats. Henceforth Ouranos, the sky, remains high above the world. The Titans, the Cyclops and the Giants are free and can leave the womb of their mother.

It is said that the raindrops that fall from the sky are nothing but Ouranos tears. Tears of pain. Tears of remorse. Tears of longing.

Ouranos is defeated and Cronus is in power. Soon he married his sister Rhea.”

“Now incest, too. The stories really have it all.”

“After all, there wasn't much choice back then,” Erwin laughed. “Could you please try not to take everything so literally? These stories were an attempt to explain the world as it is.”

“I'll try, but this is really grotesque.”

“Well, but also not so far from reality as we have experienced ourselves.”

“Unfortunately, true,” Levi admitted with a sigh. “All right, then.”

“Thank you.” Erwin smiled softly. “Well, where was I? Oh, right. Now everything could actually be good, but as is well known, a prince, should he once be in power, does not want to give it away again. Warned by Gaia that one day a son of his would topple him from the throne, Cronus eats all his children as soon as Rhea gives birth to them.”

Levi's eyebrow twitched and he took in another shaky breath, suppressing his irritation so much that even Takeru, their dog, who had been fast asleep by the fire until now, lifted his head from his paw and gently nudged Levi’s hand, whining concerned.

That pulled Levi out of his anger and the tension faded out of his body.

“Everything is fine, Taki,” he whispered as he immediately leaned down to the dog and ruffled gently through his wild, brown fur. “Don’t worry.”

“Levi,” Erwin said cautiously. “If this story outrages you so much, I can stop. I know how much you hate atrocities like this.”

“No, that’s not it…it’s just…” A deep sigh escaped him. “I have difficulties seeing it as a story. Maybe because there had been no room for fantasy and imagination in my childhood.”

“I’m sorry. I…” Slowly, Erwin began to close the book, but Levi took his hand and stopped him. Confused and surprised, he looked down to the stubborn gleam in his dark, almost black eyes.

“But I want to experience it,” he continued. “I want to learn it and when I leave the content of it aside, I really enjoy listening to you greatly. Actually, it feels like something I truly miss.”

“Levi.”

“So, please keep on going. I’ll get used to not see it as reality.”

“Are you sure?” Erwin asked concerned and he nodded. “Alright, but stop me if it infuriates you too much, promise?”

“Promised.” Levi nodded and smiled. Erwin nodded, too, and settled back against the lean of the rocking chair, while Takeru decided to rest down next to them, ready to fight of anyone or anything that is going to upset his masters.

“Desperate, the unhappy goddess can only try to escape the murderous madness of her husband. When she is pregnant again, she decides to flee, and it's a good thing, because it's not just any child she carries under her heart. This time it is Zeus.

She arrives on the island of Crete, where she quietly and secretly was delivered of a child and entrusted it to some nymphs, the deities who embody the elements and then returns to Cronus.

Cronus knows that Rhea was pregnant and now expects her to present the new born to him. Rhea has also thought about it. Instead of the baby, she hands Cronus a stone wrapped in a cloth. The ravenous Titan is truly fooled by this and swallows the stone. He does not suspect that he has a son on Crete, on Mount Ida, who will avenge his mother, free his brothers and deprive Cronus of his power to rule over the immortals in his place.

In the mountains, surrounded by goats, sheltered by his grandmother Gaia and the nymphs, Zeus grows up. His food is ambrosia and nectar, brought by doves and eagles. In addition, there are delicious honeycombs that the bees produce only for him and he drinks the milk of the goat of the nymph Amalthea.

Later, as ruler of the universe, Zeus will think of his benefactors. He will transform Amalthea and the goat into stars that will become the constellation of Capricorn and he will give the nymphs who raised him the horn of a goat, the famous horn of plenty that is always filled with what its owner wants to eat or drink.

But first of all, it becomes dangerous. In the meantime, Cronus has realized that his wife has deceived him. He is looking for his son, who has escaped his morbid obsession, and could topple him off the throne.

Cronus searches everywhere, even under the mountains and hills and in the seas, but he does not find him, because the cradle of little Zeus is hidden in a cave in the mountain Ida and strange creatures are raging in front of the entrance. The Curetes. Weapon-scraping demons who are supposed to drown out the baby's cries with their war dances and the clashing of their lances and shields, so that the father doesn't hear him.

The years pass. Zeus grows up and the older he becomes, the more he thinks about taking revenge on his terrible father, whose horrible actions his mother told him about.

When he is grown up, Zeus meets the oceanid Metis. This nymph from the sea is the daughter of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys.

She is the goddess of acumen, but also of cunning. Young Zeus wants to seduce her, which he succeeds effortlessly. Of course, he entrusted his original to her and also the desire to punish his father for his crimes and to free his brothers, who are trapped in Cronus stomach. But how? Metis suggests him to give Cronus a drink with an emetic. To prevent that he tastes it, Metis adds, Zeus should add a cup of honey. But where should he get this remedy? Metis smiles and says: ask your mother, she knows something like that.

Zeus follows the advice and describes his plan to his mother. Rhea is thrilled by the ruse. She prepares the remedy and introduces Zeus as the cupbearer who brings the drinks.

When he stands before his father, Zeus hands him the bowl. Cronus grasps it unsuspectingly, but as soon as he has drunk a sip, he throws up the wrapped stone and then all of Rhea's children. Furious at having been deceived and determined to remain on the throne, Cronus does everything he can to defeat Zeus and sends all the Titans, all his brothers and sisters, after him.

Rhea's children, for their part, spontaneously gather with Zeus on Mount Olympus. The terrible battle can begin and goes down in history as the Titanomachy, which lasted for centuries.”

“Suddenly that doesn't sound so strange anymore,” Levi whispered into the cool night air, almost a little breathless after he had listened attentively for the past few minutes.

“No, it doesn’t.” The smile on Erwin’s lips flickered slightly and then continues: “To finally put an end to the battle raging on her, Gaia advises Zeus to ally with a power from the same generation as the Titans. With the Cyclopes. As primordial deities, the Cyclopes still possess all the brutality that was inherent in the first creation.

Moreover, Gaia adds, Zeus will receive the most destructive weapon from the Cyclopes: Lightning and Thunder, but so far, they still vegetate at the deepest bottom of Tartarus, the most terrible part of Hell. Cronus had thrown them in there.”

“Oh, so that’s what we should have done.” Levi clicked his tongue and then laughed. “All we had to do was finding the cyclops in the interior of the earth."

“I think that would be an adventure on its own,” Erwin replied with a chuckle and rested his cheek on Levi’s head. “Though wielding lightning and thunder would be awesome.”

“I bet you’d look great with it.”

“Why me?”

“You were the commander.” Levi shrugged. “And do you seriously think anyone other than us would have dared this journey? No, certainly not. So, you would have been the only choice. Or should we have given it to Hanji?”

“I can actually imagine it.” A soft chuckle escaped him. “Hanji flying in the air, striking down Titans, while laughing manically. They would have loved it.”

“And that is why we would not have given Hanji such a powerful toy.”

“Fair enough.” Erwin agreed. “Let’s just hope, I’d have been any better.”

“I’m sure of it,” Levi whispered as he cupped his cheek and kissed the corner of his mouth and then tucked his smirk against it. “Otherwise, I’d have smacked you out of it.”

“I would have insisted on it.” Another laugh escaped him. “Things would have been so much _easier_ with lightning and thunder.”

“Well, let’s see how Zeus wins his war and if it truly was that easy.”

Erwin nodded an scanned the page for moment for the position.

“If Zeus freed them from there, he would be assured of their alliance. Zeus agrees and with the help of these one-eyed creatures he soon victorious.”

“Well, that was easy now.”

“Is there peace at last? No, as Gaia, who herself had helped her grandson to conquer the throne, now accuses him of having killed her own children, the Titans. She sends the giants after Zeus, those massive creatures that are considered invincible. A new war begins and becomes known as the Gigantomachy, which was still going on when the first mortals came into existence.”

“Great prospect for us. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

“Together with Zeus, his brothers and sisters, along with their children, organise the resistance. It is a fierce battle, but Zeus manages to get hold of that herb to which the giants supposedly owe their invulnerability, but that changes nothing. Gaia does not give up.

When they realise that victory is only possible with the help of a mortal, Zeus has an idea. He unites with Alcmene, the daughter of the king of Mycenae, who gives birth to a son of extraordinary strength: Heracles.

Heracles strikes a death blow with his arrows to every giant Zeus wounds. Once again Zeus triumphs over his enemies and, like a monument to this victory, Zeus displayed the huge stone that his father once swallowed in his place in Delphi.

It is the Omphalos. The navel of the world, the centre of the universe and there it still is today.

But even this does not settle everything. Zeus has another opponent waiting for him, and he is of immense size. Still seeking revenge for the death of her children, the Titans, Gaia unites with Tartarus from the remotest and most dangerous part of the underworld. From this union emerges a hideous monster. Typhon.”

Erwin took a quick breath and swallowed, noticing how Levi meanwhile held his breath and listened spellbound, a fire of excitement burning in his uninjured eye. The sight warmed Erwin’s heart.

“Typhon is half human half animal. With his head he touches the stars and when he stretches out his arms they reach from the Orient to the Occident. Fire blazes in his eyes and snakes coil around his abdomen. As if his appearance is not enough to scare any opponent, Typhon also roars fearsomely: sometimes like a bull, sometimes like a lion. As the monster approaches Olympus, panic breaks out and the gods flee, only to turn into animals.

“I didn't expect that,” Levi said, flabbergasted.

“Zeus confronts the monster all by himself. Amazingly, the fight was short and quickly decided. While Typhon searches for Zeus in the sea around Sicily, Zeus lifts the volcano Etna and hurls it at his opponent. Typhon is trapped under Etna and Zeus' authority can no longer be denied. He is indisputably the king of the gods.”

And with that, Erwin closed the book and reached for a glass of water which stood on the table beside his rocking chair and empties it almost completely.

The sun had sunk completely by now and only the flickering glow of a lantern illuminated the veranda in front of their house. Crickets chirped somewhere away in the grass, but otherwise it was quiet in their valley. Nothing disturbed their peace and calmness for which they had fought so hard.

“That was an exciting story,” Levi finally admitted.

“Did you like it?” Erwin asked, looking at him. Levi's dark hair almost melted completely into the night.”

“Indeed.” He nodded. “And I understand now what you meant about people trying to explain the world with it. It shows a lot of parallels to our history.”

“In retrospect, I wonder if there isn't a shred of truth in it about the origins of our Titans. Whether the story doesn't describe the early beginnings of this age.”

“Who knows, but it doesn't change anything either. They're gone, and as long as Earth doesn't send the giants after us now, I'm content as it is.”

“I am, too,” Erwin agreed and hugged Levi tighter against his chest, tucking him under his chin and closing his eyes. Though, that was an understatement. Erin was more than happy that it all turned out like this. That by some miracle they had both survived and could now spend the rest of their lives together. Without fear, without fighting.

Everything was perfect until suddenly an acrid smell penetrated the air.

“Oh damn, the fishes!” Startled, Levi jumped up so that the warm blanket and the book fell to the floor and rushed over to the fire, where he pulled out the charred remains of the fishes, which almost instantly turned to ash. For a moment, the two stared at each other until they burst out laughing and even Takeru joined in, barking happily.

**Author's Note:**

> Please, please let me know what you think! This has been quite an experiment for me and I'd love to hear your thoughts =)


End file.
